Posts Tagged ‘Byron Bay’

First it was on, then it was off, then it was maybe, then it was most definitely off again. For a while it looked like I might be heading down to Sydney for a one night sideshow, but with the flights getting more expensive by the day, eventually that plan priced itself out of reckoning, leaving the […]

Following on from the demise of Rave, and the loss of 80% of my photo opportunities, yesterday came the news that I was dreading; that my photo pass for Splendour In The Grass, which I was covering for Rave and which was the only confirmed gig I had left in my diary, had been revoked […]

Having had a relaxing and leisurely long-weekend, the last day of BluesFest, Day Six, is when I go to work. Compared to the rest of the weekend, the day starts early with Osibisa in the Mojo Tent before Tim Finn over on the Crossroads stage. Last time I saw Tim Finn was at The Troubadour, […]

Monday is another day spent at the beach before an evening drive up to Tyagarah for the last few acts of the night; Jethro Tull, Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello. Bob Dylan hasn’t allowed photographers in the photo pit for about 30 years so I know when I apply for accreditation that I’m not going […]

Although Lowell George is long gone, I had originally wanted to photograph Little Feat. Not really sure why to be quite honest… But ever since the first day of the festival they had been written up on the media tent’s whiteboard as not allowing photographers. So instead I headed in a bit later for Mavis […]

Originally I had planned on making the drive up from Ballina late in the day for John Legend. Other than that there was no one I was especially interested in photographing or seeing. Indigo Girls? No. Wolfmother? Bored of seeing them, bored of photographing them. Imogen Heap? Maybe, but not enough to make me hang […]

Until the evening before, I’d never heard of Fistful of Mercy. I can’t even remember taking it in when looking at the timetable and planning my long weekend down the coast. Either way it’s a terrible name. They were described to me as “Ben Harper, George Harrison’s son and some other guy”; it’s a fairly […]

Last year I went to BluesFest for the first time. I’d never applied to cover it before as being away from home for five days over a public holiday long weekend seemed a bit unfair and selfish. Plus the cost of being away down in Byron for five days always put me off. But last […]

Reaching the last day of the festival one thing is sure; 4 days (I missed the Thursday as everyone I wanted to see on the first day was playing over the weekend anyway, although I still managed to miss Dr John) is more than enough for photographing an outdoor, multi-stage festival, especially when it involves camping. […]

Sunday is the main day of the festival, with it being the last day for those with the 3-day festival tickets. As such the timetable is very clash-y with lots of big names playing all at the same time. The day’s two main highlights are Crowded House and Rodriguez. Crowded House has long been a […]

As with most big music festivals, a lot of the best things at BluesFest 2010 were happening away from the main stage, and in particular on the Caba Caba Ray Stage. Saturday’s highlight is undoubtedly Poor Man’s Whiskey covering Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon in a bluegrass-style (with the original Money having it’s […]

What I Learnt From BluesFest 2010: Photography and camping don’t mix; 2010 is the year when anyone with a camera can get accreditation to the big music festivals. When they’re having to split the photographers into two groups in order to make it manageable and it’s not even the main stage headliners you’ve given out […]

MGMT were really shocking when they played at The Tivoli at the end of last year; really terrible and disinterested, a band that had obviously spent far too long on the road. But in seemingly typical style the Splendour organisers obviously waited to see what songs were towards the top reaches of Triple Jâ€™s Hottest […]

All plans for an early start and a timely return to the festival site donâ€™t materialise. The early start does happen but the time is spent editing Saturdayâ€™s photos, then thinking about making a move, waiting for other people whilst they think about it and then think a bit more about it, then have some […]

Â From the sublime to the ridiculous; The Living End.Â There are so many things that are wrong before they even play a note; they’ve replaced the late-cancelling Jane’s Addiction, hardly a like-for-like exchange, they have just had The Specials essentially support them, the crowd reaction they get from the crowd as they walk onstage […]

Â Bluejuice are a band that’s yet to win me over, having seen them at last year’s Splendour and then a few months later supporting We Are Scientists at The Zoo.Â As Stav from the band kindly commented on that post (and which shamefully I didn’t get around to replying to), they’re obviously not my […]

Â Having arrived at our house for the weekend in New Brighton in the dark and just as a heavy rain storm passed overhead, Saturday starts with a quick walk around the locality to try and find if any mobile signal can be found so that photos and blogs can be uploaded.Â As not even […]

Sunday doesn’t exactly go to plan, with the slow editing and general Sunday morning sluggishness meaning I manage to miss both Danananananakroyd and Jack Ladder and despite aiming to get onto site to photograph White Lies, the traffic means I miss half of their set. So the day starts at a more leisurely starting time […]

Technology-wise, things didn’t go quite to plan, with the house we were staying in having no mobile reception for me to use my phone as a modem and upload some photos yesterday morning.Â Saturday morning’s blog post was made by parking my car on the top of the nearest big hill and uploading from the […]

The closing hours of Thursday bring with them rumours that Janeâ€™s Addiction â€“ of all the bands on the 2009 Splendour bill, the one that I most what to see and the one that I most want to photograph â€“ have cancelled their whole Australian tour. Friday morning brings confirmation of this, with Stephen Perkins […]

Â Another year, another Splendour.Â It’s been a hard few weeks, what with a combination of work, working weekends to make up for the days I’m having off to go to Splendour, gigs, next day photo deadlines and The Ashes, so instead of feeling well rested and full of energy for a hard weekend’s photographing […]

The final additions to the 2009 Splendour In The Grass festival were announced today, to go with the already announced list that I blogged about last month, with the final 18 bands being as follows: Happy Mondays Doves Architecture In Helsinki You Am I The Beautiful Girls Downsyde & Drapht Kisschasy Little Red Bluejuice Children […]

I saw The Vines on their first UK tour at ULU in April 2002 (for bragging rights it was a shame I didnâ€™t go see them a month earlier at the Camden Barflyâ€¦) and watched a really boring show in amongst an mostly arms-folded, unexcited crowd who were not being convinced that they were worth […]